The ESCLH aims to promote comparative legal history and seeks affiliation with individuals and organisations with complementary aims.
Prof. Dr. Dave De ruysscher has been awarded the Jean Stengers Prize of the Académie Royale de Belgique for the triennial period 2023–2025.He received this distinction in recognition of his study A Political Economy Imparted: Trade, Law, and Institutions in Antwerp c. 1400–1680, a work that sheds new light on the interplay between legal frameworks and economic development in the early modern Low Countries.More information at VUB CORE.
Abstract:
Der Bader-Preis für die Geschichte der Wissenschaft und Technik geht in diesem Jahr an Svit Komel von der Universität Ljubljana. Ausgezeichnet wird seine Dissertationsschrift „Rule and measure. A history of juridical practices in the age of surveys“, in der er die Abschaffung von Grundlasten und kollektiven Landnutzungsrechten in der Habsburgermonarchie zwischen 1853 und 1895 untersucht. Komel zeigt, wie die Grundentlastung, also die Auflösung gemeinschaftlicher Rechte von Bauern an Wäldern und Weiden, nicht nur ein agrarpolitischer Einschnitt war, sondern Ausdruck einer tiefgreifenden Veränderung im Verhältnis zwischen Staat, Wissenschaft und lokaler Gesellschaft. Im Zentrum seiner Analyse steht das Konzept der Vermessung: Kommissare wurden in alle Winkel der Monarchie entsandt, um Gewohnheitsrechte zu erfassen und neu zu kategorisieren – ein Prozess, der auf das Wissen der bäuerlichen Bevölkerung zwingend angewiesen war.
More information at the ÖAW.
The American Society for Legal History announces several awards (among which the Global Dissertation Prize, the Cromwell Dissertation Prize and the Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective).
More information on the Society's website.
Description:
The Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective will honor exceptional dissertations on topics in European legal history in global perspective and presented for PhD or JSD degrees awarded in the previous calendar year. Topics may include European legal interactions with people or places outside Europe, legal processes spanning Europe and other world regions, and developments in legal theory closely related to imperial, transnational, or trans-regional trends. Dissertations must be written in English. The prize recipient will receive a three-month residential fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt. The fellowship includes a monthly stipend, in accordance with the regulations of the Institute’s visitor program, round-trip airfare to Frankfurt (up to €1,500), and accommodation in an institute apartment (valued at €700 per month). Currently, the monthly stipend is €2,700 for scholars with a PhD or JSD. The stipend will be offset against other sources of income. The timing of the period in residence at the Max Planck Institute is flexible and will be arranged in consultation with the Institute directors. Typically, the three-month period will take place in the fall or spring within a year or two of the date of the award.
Elements of submission:
Elements of Submission (1) Curriculum Vitae (including date of degree); (2) Plan for Use of Fellowship Time at the Max Planck Institute (up to 500 words); and (3) Dissertation (including abstract). Please submit items 1-3 in a single pdf. All application materials should be sent to mpdissertation@aslh.net Only complete submissions will be considered. Questions? Write to Lauren Benton (lauren.benton@yale.edu).
Committee members:
Lauren Benton (Yale/Chair) - Thomas Duve (MPILHLT) - Falah Bishara (Virginia) - Matthew Mirow (Florida International University)
Read more here.
The ESIL IG History of International Law invites its members to nominate an article that they believe has had or will have a major impact on the field of international legal history (sensu stricto).
Members may nominate any article on the history of international law published in any academic journal in 2023, 2024, or 2025 (the range is deliberately broad to avoid restricted access due to publisher embargoes). The prize winner will be invited to present the paper at an online ESIL event and participate in an interview with the IG Coordinating Committee, with the intention of publishing the interview in a peer-reviewed scientific venue. It is our intention to award this prize annually, with the following year’s award covering 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Nominations should adhere to the following rules (eligibility):
- While the IG does not wish to define the history of international law, we prefer articles that, in substance, deal with history and international law, for example, by relying on archival materials. Articles whose primary focus is present-day international law (theory or practice), with an incidental historical excursion, will not be eligible for the award. Articles whose primary focus is history, with an incidental account of international law, will also not be eligible. In case of doubt, members are welcome to nominate the article. The evaluation committee will make the final decision based on the abovementioned criteria.
- Self-nominations are not allowed.
- The official year of publication of the article needs to be 2023, 2024, or 2025.
- Only papers published in the Society’s official languages, English or French, are eligible.
- Nominations should be sent to esil.ighilprize@gmail.com by the 6th of February 2026 with the subject line following the format: [FirstName_SURNAME_Paper title], with the paper attached in PDF. Nominations that do not adhere to this format will be excluded from evaluation.
Evaluation procedure:
- Members of the IG Coordinating Committee and invited evaluators cannot express an opinion on or score papers submitted by colleagues currently or formerly affiliated with the same university to avoid a conflict of interest. The evaluators will assess any further conflicts of interest in accordance with the Canadian guidelines for federal research funding.
- Threshold for consideration: The Coordinating Committee does not award this prize; the members of the IG do. To draw on the “wisdom of the crowd,” the Coordinating Committee will evaluate only the ten most nominated papers.
- Each IG member can nominate only one paper. If a nominated paper does not receive the award, IG members can renominate it in a subsequent year, if they believe the impact of the paper has endured.
- Nominations must be submitted through an institutional email address; IG members without an institutional email address can ask for a motivated exception.
- In deciding the award, the Coordinating Committee will invite one or several highly-regarded, senior historians of international law to join the evaluation committee.
- The Coordinating Committee calls upon its members to make an individual evaluation of a paper, in line with the four Mertonian norms underpinning the scientific ethos: communality, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized scepticism. Social media campaigns or other types of advertising, recruiting, or intimidation to increase a paper’s nominations are considered unethical.
The evaluation committee will assess papers based on the following criteria (1-5 scale):
- The paper addresses longstanding and emergent questions regarding the history of international law from an innovative methodological and/or theoretical point of view.
- The paper expands the history of international law by examining overlooked/understudied social contexts.
- The paper bridges the history of international law with other disciplines in ways that result in new and original knowledge, advancing the state of the art of our field.
- The paper soundly and rigorously explores the topic at hand, and offers significant or impactful insights, beyond increasing our knowledge of the field in question.
- Clarity: The paper lays out the main argument unambiguously without unnecessarily reducing complexity or nuance.
Questions regarding the prize can be addressed to Dr. Florenz Volkaert (florenz.volkaert@uclouvain.be).
Appel à candidatures : Prix d’Article 2025 de groupe d’intérêt pour l’histoire du droit international de la SEDI
Le GI Histoire du droit international de la SEDI invite ses membres à proposer un article qui, selon eux, a eu ou aura un impact majeur sur le domaine de l’histoire du droit international (au sens strict).
Les membres peuvent proposer tout article portant sur l’histoire du droit international, publié dans n’importe quelle revue académique en 2023, 2024 ou 2025 (la plage d’années est délibérément large afin d’éviter les restrictions d’accès liées aux embargos des éditeurs). Nous avons l’intention de décerner ce prix chaque année, la remise de l’année suivante couvrant les années 2024, 2025 et 2026.
Les candidatures doivent respecter les règles suivantes (éligibilité) :
Procédure d’évaluation :
Le comité d’évaluation évaluera les articles selon les critères suivants (échelle de 1 à 5) :
Toute question concernant le prix peut être adressée au Dr Florenz Volkaert (florenz.volkaert@uclouvain.be).
The ESIL IG History of
International Law invites its members to nominate an article that they believe has
had or will have a major impact on the field of international legal
history (sensu stricto).
Members may nominate any
article on the history of international law published in any academic journal
in 2023, 2024, or 2025 (the range is deliberately broad to avoid restricted
access due to publisher embargoes). The prize winner will be invited to present
the paper at an online ESIL event and participate in an interview with the IG
Coordinating Committee, with the intention of publishing the interview in a peer-reviewed
scientific venue. It is our intention to award this prize annually, with the
following year’s award covering 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Nominations
should adhere to the following rules (eligibility):
-
While
the IG does not wish to define the history of international law, we
prefer articles that, in substance, deal with history and international
law, for example, by relying on archival materials. Articles whose primary
focus is present-day international law (theory or practice), with an incidental
historical excursion, will not be eligible for the award. Articles whose
primary focus is history, with an incidental account of international law, will
also not be eligible. In case of doubt, members are welcome to nominate the
article. The evaluation committee will make the final decision based on the
abovementioned criteria.
-
Self-nominations
are not allowed.
-
The
official year of publication of the article
needs to be 2023, 2024, or 2025.
-
Only
papers published in the Society’s official languages, English or French, are eligible.
-
Nominations
should be sent to esil.ighilprize@gmail.com by the 6th of February
2026 with the subject line following the format: [FirstName_SURNAME_Paper
title], with the paper attached in PDF. Nominations that do not adhere to this
format will be excluded from evaluation.
Evaluation
procedure:
-
Members
of the IG Coordinating Committee and invited evaluators cannot express an
opinion on or score papers submitted by colleagues currently or formerly
affiliated with the same university to avoid a conflict of interest. The
evaluators will assess any further conflicts of interest in accordance with the
Canadian guidelines for federal
research funding.
-
Threshold
for consideration: The Coordinating Committee does not award this prize; the
members of the IG do. To draw on the “wisdom of the crowd,” the Coordinating
Committee will evaluate only the ten most nominated papers.
-
Each
IG member can nominate only one paper. If a nominated paper does not receive
the award, IG members can renominate it in a subsequent year, if they believe
the impact of the paper has endured.
-
Nominations
must be submitted through an institutional email address; IG members without an
institutional email address can ask for a motivated exception.
-
In
deciding the award, the Coordinating Committee will invite one or several
highly-regarded, senior historians of international law to join the evaluation
committee.
-
The
Coordinating Committee calls upon its members to make an individual
evaluation of a paper, in line with the four Mertonian norms underpinning the
scientific ethos: communality, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized
scepticism. Social media campaigns or other types of advertising, recruiting,
or intimidation to increase a paper’s nominations are considered unethical.
The
evaluation committee will assess papers based on the following criteria (1-5
scale):
-
The
paper addresses longstanding and emergent questions regarding the history of
international law from an innovative methodological and/or theoretical point of
view.
-
The
paper expands the history of international law by examining
overlooked/understudied social contexts.
-
The
paper bridges the history of international law with other disciplines in ways
that result in new and original knowledge, advancing the state of the art of
our field.
-
The
paper soundly and rigorously explores the topic at hand, and offers significant
or impactful insights, beyond increasing our knowledge of the field in
question.
-
Clarity:
The paper lays out the main argument unambiguously without unnecessarily
reducing complexity or nuance.
Questions regarding the
prize can be addressed to Dr. Florenz Volkaert (florenz.volkaert@uclouvain.be).
Appel
à candidatures : Prix d’Article 2025 de groupe d’intérêt pour l’histoire du
droit international de la SEDI
Le
GI Histoire du droit international de la SEDI invite ses membres à proposer un
article qui, selon eux, a eu ou aura un impact majeur sur le domaine de
l’histoire du droit international (au sens strict).
Les
membres peuvent proposer tout article portant sur l’histoire du droit
international, publié dans n’importe quelle revue académique en 2023, 2024 ou
2025 (la plage d’années est délibérément large afin d’éviter les restrictions
d’accès liées aux embargos des éditeurs). Nous avons l’intention de décerner ce
prix chaque année, la remise de l’année suivante couvrant les années 2024, 2025
et 2026.
Les
candidatures doivent respecter les règles suivantes (éligibilité) :
Procédure d’évaluation :
Le
comité d’évaluation évaluera les articles selon les critères suivants (échelle
de 1 à 5) :
Toute
question concernant le prix peut être adressée au Dr Florenz Volkaert
(florenz.volkaert@uclouvain.be).
On the article:
Grace Mallon’s “Negotiated Federalism” examines the federal government’s efforts to enforce its new authority after the Founding. Federal officials quickly realized that they required the participation and consent of state governments, as federal laws could not take effect without the legislation, investment, and manpower of state governments. The piece showcases how Atlantic port cities presented a crucial test case for negotiated federalism, where the federal government sought to exercise power in spaces where states had already entrenched their authority. As early federal officials set up customs and lighthouse services, rebuilt coastal fortifications, and enforced regulations, they had to negotiate with states to determine “which powers each level of government could exercise.” As a result, federal power depended on a state’s willingness to negotiate its authority. The crisply written article tackles big questions of federalism through granular details of practical problems and personality conflicts. Based in impressive primary source research in state and federal official records and correspondence, Mallon brings multiple areas of scholarship together to describe how power was worked out ‘in the course of ordinary government administration instead of in high theory. “Negotiated Federalism” takes something that we feel is well-understood (federalism at the founding) and through a creative path through the archive mines new and provocative ways of seeing the past that help us see the present more clearly.
Link to the article here: 10.1353/wmq.2024.a941486
(source: RAI - Oxford University)
Announcement:
Le jury du Prix d’Aguesseau s’est réuni le 1er décembre 2025. À l’unanimité des présents lors de la délibération, c’est la thèse de Monsieur Francesco Saverio Tavaglione, « Entre punition et réparation. Pour une histoire culturelle de la fonction de la responsabilité aquilienne« , soutenue à l’Université de Liège, thèse conduite sous la direction de Mme Patricia Giunti et M. Jean-François Gerkens, qui a été retenue comme lauréate.
Read more here.
Description:
This year's Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective recognizes two remarkable works. Vladislav Lilić and Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín offer research that enriches the study of state formation, international order, and the built environments that shaped global governance.
Vladislav Lilić’s dissertation, ‚Empire of States: Law and International Order in Ottoman Europe, c. 1830–1912,‘ completed at Vanderbilt University, presents a fresh account of Balkan state formation. He traces how Montenegro and Serbia took shape through legal conflicts inside imperial institutions. By following figures ranging from Ottoman officials to pastoralists, he shows how disputes over land, authority, and public order gradually redefined political belonging and enabled provincial states to form within the empire before entering the international arena. The work rests on multilingual research, a precise structure, and a clear analytical contribution to debates on sovereignty and legal pluralism.
Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín’s dissertation, “‘Architects of the Better World’: Democracy, Law, and the Construction of International Order (1919–1998),‘ completed at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, examines the emergence of an international parliamentary complex across the twentieth century. He follows the creation of international assemblies from interwar Geneva to the end of the Cold War and analyzes how architectural designs circulated across regions. By linking these physical spaces to global political aspirations, he offers a spatial history of international law grounded in extensive archival research in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The study introduces a distinctive conceptual frame conveyed through clear and persuasive prose. The Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize honors outstanding dissertations in European legal history with a global orientation, submitted for PhD or JSD degrees awarded in the previous calendar year. It supports work on European legal interactions beyond Europe, transregional legal processes, and theoretical developments connected to imperial or global currents.
Jury:
Lauren Benton (chair) Yale University Thomas Duve Max Planck Institute for Legal History Fahad Bishara University of Virginia Matthew Mirow Florida International University
Source: MPILHLT.
The Association des Historiens des Facultés de Droit attributed its 2025 PhD Thesis Prize to Joseph MANN for the dissertation De l'histoire des corporations au corporatisme. Evolutions méthodologiques et recompositions idéologiques chez les histoires du droit en France (1830 - 1945).
This work was defended at the Université de Strasbourg on 21 November 2024, under supervision of prof. dr. Raphaël ECKERT. The jury was presided by Prof. dr. Emanuele CONTE. Prof. dr. Jean-Louis HALPÉRIN and prof. dr. David DEROUSSIN acted as reporters, while prof. dr. Céline PAUTHIER and Prof. dr. Jean-Marie TUFFERY-ANDRIEU were examiners.
On the prize:
Le chercheur Christian Via Balole a reçu le prestigieux Prix Robert Feenstra, décerné par le comité de rédaction de la Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis (Revue d’Histoire du Droit), pour son article intitulé « Le travail forcé au Congo (1960–2001) : entre décolonisation du droit et vestiges du joug du droit colonial belge », publié en 2024. Ce prix, créé en hommage au professeur Robert Feenstra, récompense tous les deux ans un article exceptionnel portant sur l’histoire du droit occidental. La remise officielle aura lieu lors des Journées belgo-néerlandaises d’histoire du droit, les 27 et 28 novembre 2025 à la Radboud Université de Nimègue (Pays-Bas).
Article summary:
Cet article démontre qu’à peine sortis du joug du droit colonial belge, les travailleurs congolais ont immédiatement fait les frais du joug du droit postcolonial qui les a maintenus, contre leur gré, au travail. A l’instar du droit colonial, la mobilisation forcée de la main-d’œuvre congolaise a fait l’objet d’une réglementation après la colonisation afin qu’elle obtienne un habillage juridique non seulement de légalité, mais aussi de légitimité. Néanmoins, à rebours du droit colonial, le droit mis en place par le Congo indépendant pour astreindre les travailleurs au travail s’est révélé contraire au droit international du travail fondé dorénavant sur l’idéologie des droits humains (liberté et dignité) et non plus sur la « civilisation ».
Read more here. Read the article here: DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243409.
Event description:
Rule of Law Day is a free event open to everyone. It brings together leading domestic and international experts in development cooperation and the rule of law from the public sector, NGOs, and academia to discuss successes and challenges in promoting the rule of law.
. Participation requires registration on the Rule of Law Centre’s website Each year, in connection with Rule of Law Day, the University of Helsinki’s Rule of Law Centre and the Leo Mechelin Foundation award the Leo Mechelin Medal to a distinguished advocate of the rule of law. The programme also includes the recipient’s Leo Mechelin Keynote Lecture.
The 2025 Leo Mechelin Keynote Lecturer will be Academician, Professor Emeritus Martti Koskenniemi. Previous keynote lecturers include Professor Emeritus Kaarlo Tuori (2022), Professor and Nobel Laureate James A. Robinson (2023), and Professor Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (2024).
Koskenniemi has served as Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki since 1994 and as Director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, which he founded, since 1997. He is one of the world’s leading scholars of the rules-based international order and an influential public intellectual.
He received his doctorate at the University of Turku in 1989. He has held visiting or part-time professorships at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics, the University of Melbourne and Sorbonne University in Paris. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has honorary doctorates from several universities. He has also served as a member of the UN International Law Commission. He was Academy Professor in 2005–2009 and 2013–2017. He received the Finnish Science Award in 2021 and he was granted the honorary title of Academician of Science in 2023.
In addition to the Leo Mechelin Keynote Lecture, the Rule of Law Day panel discussion will focus on the role of academic freedom in upholding the rule of law.
The Rule of Law Centre, established in 2021 under the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki, supports the development of the rule of law in developing countries. Its operations are funded in part by development cooperation funds from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Read more here.
Depuis plus de vingt ans, l’Association « Les Entretiens d’Aguesseau » sollicite l’expérience de magistrats, d’universitaires et d’avocats afin de faire évoluer le débat sur des questions fondamentales intéressant la Justice et de mettre en évidence certaines problématiques contemporaines. Placés sous le haut patronage du plus illustre juriste limousin, le Chancelier d’Aguesseau, ces « Entretiens » ont pour principal objet de poser les grandes lignes d’une réflexion sur les évolutions de la justice du 21e siècle.
Afin d’encourager et de promouvoir la recherche dans ces domaines d’expertise, les Entretiens d’Aguesseau attribuent, tous les deux ans, un prix de thèse récompensant des thèses de doctorat soutenues dans l’espace francophone. Ces travaux doivent se rapporter à la thématique « Justices en mutation », envisagée sous ses différentes dimensions (procédure, administration de la justice, philosophie et théorie du droit), en insistant sur les approches historiques et comparatistes.
Comme l’indique le règlement, le prix consiste soit en une aide à la publication du travail retenu, publication qui mentionnera l’attribution du prix, soit en la remise de la somme de 1.500 euros. Un deuxième et troisième prix pourront être remis en fonction de la qualité des thèses appréciée par le jury. Le deuxième prix consiste en une aide à la publication d’un montant de 1 000 euros ; un troisième prix d’honneur pourra être remis par l’un des partenaires.
Le dossier de candidature, est à remettre en un exemplaire papier et un exemplaire numérique au format PDF ; chaque exemplaire du dossier comprend :
– une lettre de candidature signée, avec les coordonnées du candidat (adresse postale, adresse mail, téléphone),
– un curriculum vitae,
– une lettre du directeur de recherche présentant le candidat et toutes informations utiles concernant la qualité des travaux,
– une copie du diplôme ou de l’attestation,
– un exemplaire de la thèse,
– un exemplaire du rapport de soutenance.
Les documents papier sont à envoyer à : Pascal Plas, Faculté de Droit et des Sciences économiques, 5 rue Félix Eboué, 87031 Limoges. Les documents numériques sont à envoyer à : pascal.plas@unilim.fr
Sont concernées les thèses soutenues entre avril 2023 et le 15 janvier 2025.
Les inscriptions au Prix d’Aguesseau 2025, sont ouvertes jusqu’au 1er juin 2025.
(source: AFHD)
First paragraph:
The ESIL IG History of International Law invites its members to nominate an article that they believe has had or will have a major impact on the field of international legal history (sensu stricto). Members may nominate any article on the history of international law published in any academic journal in 2022, 2023, or 2024 (the range is deliberately broad to avoid restricted access due to publisher embargoes). The official date of publication of the journal issue in which the nominated article must be published is 2022, 2023, or 2024. The prize winner will be invited to present the paper at an online ESIL event and participate in an interview with the IG Coordinating Committee, with the intention of publishing the interview in a peer-reviewed scientific venue. It is our intention to award this prize on a yearly basis, with the following year’s award covering the years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Read more here.
